


Compass Point

by treewishes



Category: Dead Zone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-12-22
Updated: 2005-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-25 07:55:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1640057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/treewishes/pseuds/treewishes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Walt is at sea, and Johnny helps him find his way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Compass Point

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Brighid

 

 

"Come on in," Sarah said, smiling. Walt ran a hand through his hair. He could tell she was anxious, but she should have thought of that when she decided that this little party was such a good idea.

Johnny smiled at her, then looked over at Walt with that nervous look a guy got when he was looking at another man's wife. "This way," Walt volunteered, and with that, Johnny came in the door. "We put the box in here." He led Johnny into the front room and offered him a seat on the other side of the coffee table.

Sarah hovered at the door, looking from Walt to Johnny and back again, even more uncomfortable than before. "I'll just make some tea, all right?"

Johnny said, "Sure," and Walt nodded, and Sarah left to make clinking noises in the kitchen. Walt knew this was his cue to make conversation and try to be friendly with his wife's ex.

He cast around for something to fill the silence. "So, how was New York?"

"Oh. It was, uh, big." Johnny settled back a bit, and wedged his cane into the corner of the couch.

"Sarah said you found the woman you were looking for."

"I did. Well," he amended, "We did. Thanks for doing those background checks."

"Happy to help." Then he had to grin. "Except now Sarah has it in her head that you should become a professional historian, I think," and he leaned forward to open the box. "These are the things that my gran told us were her grandfather's. When he came over from the old country."

"We never knew what to do with them." Sarah added, coming in with a tray. She set it carefully on the table between them. Walt looked up at her, knowing she was focused on keeping her hands steady, trying to say something reassuring to her with his eyes.

Her smile didn't waver, though, and finally Walt turned back to the box. He pulled out a sheaf of papers, and some sort of compass device, and set them out.

"Can't hurt to take a look," Johnny said, picking up the papers.

"Well, I'll leave you to it, then," Sarah said, her hand on her hips. "I'm going to pick up J.J., and I'll be back in a bit."

Johnny glanced at Walt briefly, and then smiled up at Sarah. "We'll try not to punch each other," he said, all innocence. Walt chuckled.

"Of course not," she said, aiming for breezy but sounding forced. And then she gathered up her keys and coat and went out the door.

In the quiet that followed, Walt steeled himself for at least another hour of this. Sarah wanted him to go through this box with Johnny, and if that would make her happy, that's what he was going to do. He had taken out another half dozen books and some sort of folded cloth when he noticed that Johnny hadn't moved, that he was staring at the piece of paper, still as a stone. Walt sat back and wondered what Johnny could possibly be seeing. It was kind of hard to believe, this magic that Johnny could do.

Then Johnny looked up sharply, straight at him. "This is your great-grandfather?"

"My great-great-great, I think."

"William Bannerman. He was, uh, indentured. An indentured servant. These are his travel papers."

Walt blinked. "My gran never mentioned that." But it made some sense. "Well, I suppose he had to get across the pond some way. I thought he was a tailor."

He nodded. "I saw him. He was," Johnny paused, finally looking back up, "he looked a lot like you. But I think he was some sort of manservant when he first got here, to a man named Jeremy." He flipped to the second page. "But here's the interesting part. His crime back in England is blank on these papers." Walt's question must have shown in his face, because Johnny answered his question. "He was guilty of buggery, and he was going to hang."

Well, that was a surprise. And when Walt was surprised, he instinctively put on his cop-face. He kept his voice deliberately slow and even. "I guess they never strung him up, though."

"No, someone got him on a ship to the colonies. One of Jeremy's friends, I think." Johnny looked up and waggled his eyebrows. "So your ancestor wasn't a very law-abiding citizen."

"Hey, lots of cops have parents who were criminals, why not great-grandparents?" Walt pointed a finger at the offending paper. "And I'm here, so he must have had kids. Sounds to me like a trumped up charge anyway." Walt glared at Johnny, and quickly backed off. It was the better part of valor.

Walt decided he needed something to drink instead, and poked around on the tray Sarah had left. This tea business wasn't like coffee, which would have been two mugs, simple as pie. No, this had pots and cups and saucers all crowded on a tray, and he managed to knock over the sugar bowl. Johnny reached to keep it from going onto the floor at the same time he did, and

Their fingers brushed.

Johnny sat back hard. Walt left the cup and tea and spilled sugar where it was, but he couldn't bring himself to move. He swallowed. Johnny must have seen. It must have been sitting up at the top of his mind somewhere, in that place where Johnny could see. Walt waited.

"Look, I'm still not comfortable with this, this whole vision thing," Johnny said, carefully. "Especially when it comes to people I care about."

Walt let out the breath he'd been holding. "This doesn't affect Sarah."

Johnny looked down. "I meant you. It affects you." Johnny looked down at the papers again. "I would never tell Sarah."

"What, that my great-great-great-grandfather was a criminal?"

"No, that you have a very interesting sexual history for a small-town sheriff. She doesn't know?"

Walt pinched the bridge of his nose. Of all the-- "No. She doesn't." He shook his head firmly. "She won't. It's been years. And I don't--" Want it anymore.

He stopped as Johnny clamped a hand hard over his wrist. And then Johnny was looking, oh god, no, he was looking at the chair in the corner. Walt desperately fought to change the picture in his mind, but it was impossible to shift his focus from what he knew had happened in that chair. And how ironic was it that he all of a sudden wanted Johnny to see him having sex with Sarah?

He finally wrenched his arm away. "It won't happen again." Walt had sworn it to himself on his wedding day, and he'd stuck by those words.

Johnny looked at him again. "It will."

But Walt shook his head. No. No, no. Johnny was seeing something that wasn't there. Hell, sometimes he thought Sarah looked a little boyish in dim lighting, maybe that was what Johnny was seeing in his vision.

Johnny levered himself up and Walt was suddenly afraid that he would leave, that he was leaving and going to tell the world, he was going to post it on a webpage. But instead Johnny sat down next to him, so close that their knees touched. Johnny's eyes didn't go away, though. He was looking hard into Walt's face.

"And it will be fine."

Walt was shaking his head back and forth. He had to figure out a way to convince Johnny to keep this secret; that was the only way it could ever work. He would lose Sarah, and J.J., and his job --

Then Johnny touched his cheek, still looking at him, but Walt couldn't tell what he was seeing. "I can see it, Walt," he said, and his voice was soft, his breath was warm. Then he leaned back, grinning. "I can see it-- I can see us, Walt." Suddenly, Walt could see it, too. Johnny would be eager, and strong, and hard, and Walt could almost taste his cock.

Walt looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. This was nuts. But it was Johnny. "You really see it?"

"I do. It brings us together. It even makes Sarah happy." His eyes started to get that faraway look again, but only for a second. "Eventually."

Walt opened his mouth, and laughed. "Eventually?"

"Hey, I don't get all the details. What fun would that be?"

"You'd better not be shitting me," he said.

Johnny shrugged. "Why would I-- I never thought it about you, and--" he rolled his eyes, "and definitely not about me."

Walt had managed to unclench his fists, and found he wanted to show Johnny just how much it could be about him. He leaned forward. "This okay?"

Johnny nodded. Walt leaned in further. Johnny licked his lips.

Walt had to kiss him, then.

And it was just fine.

=-=-=-=-=-=

 


End file.
